Crystal Jade Palace Restaurant

391 Orchard Road

#04-19 Ngee Ann City

Singapore 238872

Tel: 67352388

February 15, 2007

Crystal Jade Dining In

1 HarbourFront Walk
Vivo City #01-112
Singapore 098585
Tel: 62785626

January 23, 2007

This is another new creation by the Crystal Jade chain, called the Dining In. And upon looking at the menu, you will know why they call it "In" as they have lots of interesting new food creation.

Though, you might be impressed with the grand look of this place, we read and heard from lots of sources stating that the food served here is expensive and not delicious. It is only till one friend of ours says that the food is actually quite good, then we decided to give it a try as the chefs might have improve on their cooking skills. But it's so wrong, haha.

The whole place is very nicely decorated, very chic & lush. And this is also the 1st time we see 2 pairs of chopsticks on the table, one wooden and one metal. No idea what's the difference.

We order a pot of chrysantham tea that is served in a very nice pot that comes with a very small cup which is tough to hold. And this is the worst chrysantham tea we have ever drank, so bland and diluted, just like drinking plain water. We open up the pot to take a look and only found one small packet of tea bag being used for many times. Cheapskate.

The BBQ meat combination plate is so ordinary, even some hawkers serve better char siew & roast duck. The only plus point about the roast duck is the crispy skin. The meat wise, so tough & dry. And this pathetic combi already cost $18, so not worth it.

The fried rice with scallop & crab meat ($18) is also not very tasty. It don't have the fried rice fragance and the scallop and crab meat portion are miserable. How we hope it tasted equally good as the Tung Lok Signature.

The pork ribs in homemade sauce really taste so homemade and ordinary. It taste like tender meat in tomato sauce. The beancurd with salted eggs & dried shrimps is the worst of all dishes. It look so different from the photo. It looks like Cai Pok Egg when being served to us. It is so chompy and dry, and it is so bland that we have to dip lots of chilli for some taste.

Luckily, the dessert which we order "Almond Cream with Egg White & Dumpling" ($5) did not disappoint us further. Though portion is very little, at least the almond cream is thick enough and not too sweet.

After this dinner, doubt we will step in here again unless someone treat us to it. Ha.

Rating: 5/10

Tung Lok Signatures

1 HarbourFront Walk
#01-57, Vivo City
Singapore 098585
Tel: 63769555

November 30, 2006

By looking at the restaurant's name, you would have guess that this restaurant serves all the signature dishes from tung lok various branches, and of coz some new creations to the menu.

Though serving cantonese cuisine, the decor of this place place a different concept. Striking clean modern glass look with several huge space lookalike sofas. Though simple beauty, it does not add a touch of comfort and coziness. It seems empty with all the furnitures being too spread out just to occupy the whole area. Luckily they have a group of friendly and attentive staffs to keep this place more lively.

We are presented with a really huge and heavy menu which makes it not very user friendly. We have a hard time flipping the book to make our choice. And we realise a lot of their dishes resembles Lei Garden's dishes. After speaking to the waitress, we then realise a lot of the Lei Garden chefs have been poached over. This explains the similarity.

We pick our order with their in house brewed Luo Han Guo, their daily double boiled soup (Lei Jiao), braised hunan chicken, crispy prawn paste tofu, lotus wrap baked fried rice and mango mousse kuei for the dessert.

Not fascinated by the Luo Han Guo drink. Their daily double boiled soup is very thick and creamy....superb. The hunan chicken is very tender but tasteless, both of us don't really like it. The crispy tofu is perfect, good crisp on the outer layer, while very soft on the inside. And the sauce on it is yummy, brings out the dish flavour. The fried rice is also very good. Taste is just nice with generous bits of scallops and crab meat. As for the dessert, the mango kuei is just kuei with mango mousse inside, not very special, but at least not too sweet, so quite acceptable to our likings.

This whole meal cost us about $90+, a bit steep but it's ok to indulge once in a while even though we are so so broke, as good food are irresistable.

Rating: 9/10



So broke, no $$$ yet has to explore new places..sob sob

So good that it made us come back for more!!

Hua Ting

442 Orchard Road
Orchard Hotel, Level 2
Singapore 238879
Tel: 67343880

October 27, 2006

Today is one year before our actual wedding day in 2007. Sweet Meow thought of a pre-anniversary celebration by using the Hua Ting Voucher which we won in the Stomp Foodie contest. Oink made a reservation and we reached there at 7pm sharp after a tedious day at work.

This is definitely a perfect choice for our celebration as Hua Ting was such a established cantonese cuisine restaurant that won numerous culinary awards. And needless to say, they have a very renowned famous master chef by the name of Chan Kwok. So food wise, no worries on the standard and quality.

The restaurant is very modernized China decorated which adds that touch of class to your dining experience. The friendly and polite staffs definitely make your dining here very worthy and enjoyable throughout the whole session. We sat at a very cozy corner where we couldn't help but get comfortable with the plush high sofa seats. We were served with preserved pickles and Pu-er as starters. Had a really long time deciding on food to order as everything on the menu looks temptatious.

Our final choice of food are Cold Dish Platter of Jellyfish / Mango Prawn / Roasted Crispy Pork Skin, Chef Special Double Boiled Soup, Curry Cod Fish with "Man Tou", Fried Pork Ribs in Plum Sauce and A pot of Braised Mixed Vegetables in Fermented Bean Paste.

The Prawn and Pork Skin on the cold platter are very crispy and nice. The double boiled soup is made up of pork rib & organs, very well-boiled, can taste the sweetness of the soup. The cod fish is very fresh & crispy, meat is soft and smooth but we prefer it to be in light soya sauce rather than curry. Though the curry is good, goes well with the "Man Tou", it doesn't goes well with the fish. Both is good eaten separately.

The Fried Pork Ribs is extremely good that we craved for it even after we left Hua Ting. The plum sauce blends so well with the nicey fried to perfection pork ribs, excellent. As for the braised vege, only egg plant, mushroom, cabbage and tung hoon can be found in it. But it is so nicely braised that every bite of the Tung Hoon is so enjoyable, as all the gravy essence are absorbed into it.

Not cheap though as the whole meal cost us $90+ but this is definitely one hell of a dining experience. No wonder this place is so popular and fully packed with Tai Tai and Businessmen. Reservation is a must. You just have to give this place a try and you will fall in love with it.

Rating: 9/10


>>And May I Present "The Delicacies Of Hua Ting"

>>All thanks to Stomp, we have an affordable fabulous dinner for our pre-anniversary celebration *Muackz*